Witness Statement

Witness Statement/Bosnia I think that we should not go to war unless the United States’ military, citizens, or leaders are involved in the problem. A very good example of when we did help and it ended badly was what happened in Bosnia in 1992. Many different ethnic and religious groups lived together under a repressive communist government in Yugoslavia. In April 1992, Serbia set out to ethnically cleanse the Bosnian territory by removing all Bosnian Muslims, the Bosniaks, after the president Tito died in 1980.In 1993, The UN learned about this cleanse and made Sarajevo and many other places safe areas for Bosniaks. Slobodan Milosevic responded to the UN by attacking Bosniaks and surrounding Sarajevo. He blocked all roadways and closed down all the airports in Sarajevo. The Serbs then opened fire on thousands of UN peacekeepers and other citizens. This was the largest massacre in Europe since World War 2 by killing a rough total of 23,000 women and children and 8,000 men, whic h many were part of the UN aid.The UN tried to help again by sending thousands of flights to try and air lift the remaining people out of this unsafe area. In December 1995, the U. S. led negotiations that ended the conflict in Bosnia and provided a force to maintain the problems in the area until it was safe. Some could argue that the UN’s help was critical to stopping this issue, but I think it made it worst. I understand that the issue would have been terrible if no one stepped in but the Serbs didn’t actually do something until they noticed that the UN declared a safe zone.The UN making a safe zone made Milosevic angry and he then took over the safe zone. It was unnecessary for anyone to get involved in this issue besides the Serbs and Bosniaks. There were many deaths that could have been stopped if the UN just left the situation unfold by itself. I think that we should not go to war unless we are a part of the problem and this is a perfect example of why.